Chapter 12 All Hell Breaks Loose

Rubbing his eyes and scratching his left arm Renee woke with cotton in his mouth, at least that's what it felt like and a pounding headache.
Boy, I shouldn't have kept drinking last night. I'm eat up with mosquito bites. Someone should kick my ass for getting drunk. It doesn't solve anything. I still have to confront Evie this morning. Renee thought. " I guess I'd better call the station and let them know where I'm at." Renee said aloud.

"Hey Pierre, this is Sheriff Renee."

"Sheriff, where have you been? We've been trying to find you. You had your radio off and we sent someone out to your house to find you. Hold on, Sheriff, I need to transfer you to Deputy Marcel." Pierre handed the phone to Deputy Marcel.

"Sheriff, you need to get over to your house right now. No, I can't tell you...just get over there." Marcel hung up the phone.

"What the hell? " Renee had a sinking feeling. He straightened his clothes and started up his patrol car.

Arriving at the Duhon plantation, the first thing Renee saw was the patrol cars and the coroners wagon. He thought, I wonder if old man Duhon has had a heart attack.

Then he saw Deputy Harold running toward his car. "Thank God they found you Sheriff. I've some terrible news to tell you before you go into the house. Wait! Wait, man, let me tell you first."

Renee didn't wait for Deputy Harold to finish telling him anything. He jumped out of the patrol car leaving the door open and ran into the front foyer. He saw old man Duhon, his father-in-law, lying in a pool of blood on the foyer tile floor. Someone had clubbed him to death.

"Where's my wife?" Renee looked at the Deputy standing by Mr. Duhon's body and caught the dire expression on his face.

"Wait! Sheriff, you don't want to go up there, yet!" the deputy reached out to grab the Sheriff but he was too late.

Renee got to the open door of their bedroom and he could see something lying on the bed. He saw his wife's chestnut hair sprayed out on a white pillow but it wasn't her face. This was some kind of grotesque joke. This wasn't real. He thought. Her face was painted ghostly white with large black circles painted around eyes, nose, and mouth just like Deputy Pat's had been. Her arms and legs were tied to their four poster bed with rope. Down the center of her chest all the way down past her abdomen was a large gaping wound. Blood had soaked through the mattress and was dripping out from under the bed.

Renee ran to their bathroom and began retching violently. He washed his face with cold water and walked back into their bedroom.
"Cover her up." Renee barked.

"Sorry Sir, we have to leave her like this until the photographer comes." the coroner said.

"We also found this voodoo looking doll beside the bed. We'll be dusting it for fingerprints." Deputy Michael informed Renee.

"Thanks Michael, I need to get out of here. I'll be downstairs on the veranda if you need me."

"Just one more thing, Sheriff, where's your maid today? We haven't seen her."
"Today's her day off...thank God." Renee headed downstairs in a daze.

Deputy Marcel found Renee sitting on the veranda with his head in his hands. "I'm sorry to bother you sir. The coroner is taking Mr. Duhon and your wife to the morgue...you'll need to sign some papers." The deputy handed Sheriff Renee the papers. "Thank you sir. Is there anything I can do for you?"

"No, thank you Marcel. I'll see you at the station in the morning. I'll be taking a little time off to arrange the funerals.

It had been a week since Evangeline's and Mr. Duhon's funeral. Renee had cried until there were no more tears to cry. What kind of monster was he dealing with that could do something like what had been done to his wife? He had to find this beast. He thought as he went back over the case files of Deputy Pat's murder. Somewhere in these files was the answer. If only he could get a break. The report on his wife had returned that morning and was lying on his desk. According to the report there had not been any indication that she had been raped but there was evidence that she had recently had sexual intercourse within the last 12 hours. Renee knew it had been longer since they had made love. He already knew that she was seeing someone but this meant she had sex with someone the night she was killed. He wondered if Sally, her best friend, knew who she had been seeing.

"Sorry, to interrupt your thoughts, Sheriff. I have a letter for you. It was left in the in box on the front desk...I'm not sure when or by whom. No postmark. Just addressed to you." Deputy Pierre placed the envelope on the Sheriff's desk.

The handwriting was very large and bold with a slight flourish. It was too late to dust for fingerprints. No telling how many people had already handled it but he would dust anyway. He slipped the single white piece of paper out of the envelope and read.

Sheriff Renee,
I hope you are enjoying our little game. Your wife was quite a beauty...I enjoyed her company very much. You can thank me for the little surprise she gave you. It is a nasty little disease, isn't it? She was quite the tigress, I will miss our little tryst.

"Damn him! Damn her! I know this all ties in with that cabin out on Devil's Bayou but how?" Renee said aloud. "Deputy Pierre, come in here for a second."

"Yes sir."

"Did we ever get the report back on who owns that land out on Devil's Bayou?"

"Yes, I think we did, sir. I gave it to Deputy Marcel."

"Okay, thank you. Ask Deputy Marcel to bring the report to me." Renee shook his head in disgust.

"Sir, Deputy Pierre, said you needed this report." Marcel came bearing a yellow piece of paper.

"Why the Hell didn't you give this to me?" Renee took the paper.

"I...I...guess I must have misplaced it, sir, I'm sorry." Deputy Marcel replied looking sheepishly.

"I should fire you for this!" Renee snapped. "Get back to work."

Renee looked over the paper and suddenly the puzzle seemed to fall into place. The land at Devil's Bayou was owned by a Phillip Jeansonne who just happened to be married to Alex Terrebonne's younger sister. The paper also stated that Alex Terrebonne had a younger brother they called Gator that had been in prison down near Houston when Marie had killed Alex, her step-dad. Gator had gotten out of prison about the same time Pat and he had gotten the prank call to investigate the voodoo cabin. That set-up must have been meant for him. Pat must have found out something about who owned the land and was killed for it. All the gossip in town was part of the scheme to throw Renee off the tract while Gator played his little cat and mouse games. Things were beginning to make sense...this was a revenge thing. Why Evie? All part of the game to hurt Renee before Gator plans to kill him.

"Wait a minute...he plans to kill Marie next...I'll be last." Renee said thinking out loud. "I've got to warn her."